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July 4, 2010, a Sunday
Camp Hale to near Trout Creek Pass, Colorado, USA
— Errands in Buena Vista then went to J&DC's
We got up around our usual time and it was cold: 55°F (13°C) in the RV and 38°F (3°C) outside. It didn't get nearly that cold when we were camped up near Mt. Evans. It was clear and windy, so we decided to stay in the RV this morning instead of going out to photograph. I had my usual breakfast then worked up a blog entry. We prepped the RV to move, hooked up the Jeep to tow, and got underway around 10:30.
We headed East on US-24. Leadville was crawling with people for the Fourth of July holiday and parade. We stopped on the south side of town to use the dump station at the Sanitation District building. We also loaded up on fresh water. We got underway again around 11:25.
We reached Buena Vista and started looking for a laundromat. We didn't see one by the time we reached the City Market on the south side of town, so we pulled in to ask someone. We got some directions and started following them. Unfortunately, we missed a key, and subtle, part of the directions, and ended up way to the south out of town. We stopped so I could go online through a slow Verizon National Access signal to look for a laundromat, and now the guy's directions made sense.
We reached the Missing Sock Laundry (What a name!) at 12:30. It was a nice facility, and there was only one other customer there when we arrived. We started our laundry then I had lunch. We enjoyed the fast Verizon Broadband Access connection to go online, and I looked at some iPhone vs. Android articles. The Android's built-in Google Voice and Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation, that the iPhone lacks, might be enough to make it a better phone for me, and I really can't wait to play with the Droid X when it comes out. When we went in to take the laundry out of the driers, my clothes were still cold and damp — the drier hadn't put out any heat! So, I put them back in the drier that J had used for another 20 minutes. I ordered a dirt-cheap copy of the Falcon Guide to the Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers from someone on eBay to replace my old Peterson's Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. I love the Falcon Guides that I've gotten for other regions, and really dislike the Peterson guide. Not only was the book itself cheap, I was able to use some eBay Bucks to get it practically for free. :) My clothes finally dried, and I put away the critical things. Then we pulled the RV over really close to the entrance and plugged into their electricity so we could run our Dyson DC24 vacuum. I dusted and then J did the floors. We left around 2:55.
We went to the City Market to do some grocery shopping, and someone almost backed into us as we were driving through the parking lot. I slammed on the brakes to avoid the collision, and some things in our office shifted during the sudden stop. :( I dropped off J then parked the RV in a nearby lot because the City Market lot was too full for us to park there. Then I went inside, picked out a few things, then returned to the RV. I made the bed with the freshly-laundered sheets and put away the rest of my laundry. J returned to the RV, put away most of the groceries, and went online for a while. We left around 4:15.
We continued heading East on US-24. We got off US-24 near the top of Trout Creek Pass (9346 ft or 2849m) and ...
Went to our friends J&DC's property near there around 4:50. They were camping there for the weekend with JC's sister and nephew and their friend C, and had invited us to camp there any time we wanted. The view from their property is fantastic! We got parked and leveled and then hung out a bit with DC — the rest of the group was elsewhere doing some target practice. The three of us left in the Jeep to go look for an injured falcon that they had photographed yesterday.
We didn't see the falcon, but saw lots of Richardson Ground Squirrels.
We returned to J&DC's, and the rest of the group was back.
I fixed dinner for J and me of a Bertolli Italian Sausage & Rigatoni and J prepared S'mores for everyone. She makes them cold in a foil packet, then grills/bakes them over a fire or in the oven.
We took dinner, and a glass of Charles Shaw Merlot for me, out to eat at the picnic table with the rest of the group. A couple of short showers went by as we were eating and then hanging out afterwards.
DC gave us some fresh pineapple and strawberries that were very tasty, and some potato salad and Waldorf Salad that they wouldn't be able to finish before leaving. DC shared some Galvanina blood orange soda, a tasty sparkling Italian soda. Then JC brought out come Pisco, a brandy from Peru. The Pisco-fied blood orange soda was most tasty.
We returned to the RV around 9:30, all smoky from the campfire. :( We had a decent National Access Extended signal and went online. :) This place is awesome!
We headed East on US-24. Leadville was crawling with people for the Fourth of July holiday and parade. We stopped on the south side of town to use the dump station at the Sanitation District building. We also loaded up on fresh water. We got underway again around 11:25.
We reached Buena Vista and started looking for a laundromat. We didn't see one by the time we reached the City Market on the south side of town, so we pulled in to ask someone. We got some directions and started following them. Unfortunately, we missed a key, and subtle, part of the directions, and ended up way to the south out of town. We stopped so I could go online through a slow Verizon National Access signal to look for a laundromat, and now the guy's directions made sense.
We reached the Missing Sock Laundry (What a name!) at 12:30. It was a nice facility, and there was only one other customer there when we arrived. We started our laundry then I had lunch. We enjoyed the fast Verizon Broadband Access connection to go online, and I looked at some iPhone vs. Android articles. The Android's built-in Google Voice and Free Turn-by-Turn Navigation, that the iPhone lacks, might be enough to make it a better phone for me, and I really can't wait to play with the Droid X when it comes out. When we went in to take the laundry out of the driers, my clothes were still cold and damp — the drier hadn't put out any heat! So, I put them back in the drier that J had used for another 20 minutes. I ordered a dirt-cheap copy of the Falcon Guide to the Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers from someone on eBay to replace my old Peterson's Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. I love the Falcon Guides that I've gotten for other regions, and really dislike the Peterson guide. Not only was the book itself cheap, I was able to use some eBay Bucks to get it practically for free. :) My clothes finally dried, and I put away the critical things. Then we pulled the RV over really close to the entrance and plugged into their electricity so we could run our Dyson DC24 vacuum. I dusted and then J did the floors. We left around 2:55.
We went to the City Market to do some grocery shopping, and someone almost backed into us as we were driving through the parking lot. I slammed on the brakes to avoid the collision, and some things in our office shifted during the sudden stop. :( I dropped off J then parked the RV in a nearby lot because the City Market lot was too full for us to park there. Then I went inside, picked out a few things, then returned to the RV. I made the bed with the freshly-laundered sheets and put away the rest of my laundry. J returned to the RV, put away most of the groceries, and went online for a while. We left around 4:15.
We continued heading East on US-24. We got off US-24 near the top of Trout Creek Pass (9346 ft or 2849m) and ...
Went to our friends J&DC's property near there around 4:50. They were camping there for the weekend with JC's sister and nephew and their friend C, and had invited us to camp there any time we wanted. The view from their property is fantastic! We got parked and leveled and then hung out a bit with DC — the rest of the group was elsewhere doing some target practice. The three of us left in the Jeep to go look for an injured falcon that they had photographed yesterday.
We didn't see the falcon, but saw lots of Richardson Ground Squirrels.
We returned to J&DC's, and the rest of the group was back.
I fixed dinner for J and me of a Bertolli Italian Sausage & Rigatoni and J prepared S'mores for everyone. She makes them cold in a foil packet, then grills/bakes them over a fire or in the oven.
We took dinner, and a glass of Charles Shaw Merlot for me, out to eat at the picnic table with the rest of the group. A couple of short showers went by as we were eating and then hanging out afterwards.
DC gave us some fresh pineapple and strawberries that were very tasty, and some potato salad and Waldorf Salad that they wouldn't be able to finish before leaving. DC shared some Galvanina blood orange soda, a tasty sparkling Italian soda. Then JC brought out come Pisco, a brandy from Peru. The Pisco-fied blood orange soda was most tasty.
We returned to the RV around 9:30, all smoky from the campfire. :( We had a decent National Access Extended signal and went online. :) This place is awesome!